Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Raikage A stood atop the head of the Eight-Tails Gyuki, his body leaning slightly forward. His clothes whipped wildly in the gale, and his eyes never left the golden giant opposite him for a single second.

His gaze was brimming with killing intent. His lips parted slightly as he spat out a few words.

"Bee, kill him!"

Beneath his feet, the Eight-Tails Gyuki let out a low roar. Killer Bee's voice echoed from within Gyuki's body, uttering only a single sound.

"Mm!"

The next moment, the Eight-Tails Gyuki opened its massive maw.

Its jaws stretched incredibly wide, the lower jaw almost forming a straight line with the upper, revealing its teeth and a bottomless throat.

Orange-red chakra surged from deep within its throat, gathering and compressing just outside its mouth.

The density of the chakra grew higher and higher, its color deepening from orange-red to dark red, and then from dark red to purple-black.

A Tailed Beast Bomb formed in front of its mouth, over twenty meters in diameter, containing an astonishingly high density of chakra.

Ripples continuously spread across the sphere's surface, traces of the violent chakra flowing within. A scorching scent filled the air, and even the wind seemed to stop.

On the ground directly in front of the sphere, dirt and rubble began to tremble before being pushed aside by an invisible force, forming a shallow trench.

The Eight-Tails Gyuki violently whipped its head, launching the Tailed Beast Bomb from its mouth. It traced an arc through the air, hurtling toward the Susanoo like a falling meteor.

Wherever the Tailed Beast Bomb passed, a deep trench was plowed into the earth. Dirt and shattered stone flew to the sides as if torn apart by an invisible giant hand. The air twisted and distorted from the searing heat, emitting a piercing screech.

Uchiha Taiga narrowed his eyes slightly. Then, the Susanoo moved.

Under his control, the hundred-meter-tall golden giant abruptly retreated, its movements far too agile for such a colossal behemoth.

Its feet rapidly alternated as it backed away, covering dozens of meters with every step and leaving massive footprints in the dirt. Its body leaned back slightly, shifting its center of gravity. Like a ninja dodging a kunai, it flawlessly evaded the trajectory of the Tailed Beast Bomb.

The Tailed Beast Bomb flew past the Susanoo's side, missing by less than ten meters. A wave of scorching air washed over it, causing the golden armor on the Susanoo's surface to faintly glow from the intense heat.

The Tailed Beast Bomb continued its flight, soaring past the Susanoo, over the forest, and across the hills, finally landing on a distant mountain.

A blinding white light erupted.

Rocks, dirt, trees—everything was instantly vaporized in the brilliant flash.

A mushroom cloud rose, billowing into the sky and blotting out half the heavens. The deafening roar of the explosion took several seconds to reach the battlefield, ringing painfully in their ears.

Looking again, the entire mountain had vanished in the blast of the Tailed Beast Bomb.

Uchiha Taiga looked toward the Eight-Tails Gyuki, only to find that a second Tailed Beast Bomb had already coalesced at its mouth.

This sphere was even larger than the first, its color darker, and its surface spinning at a much faster rate.

The Eight-Tails Gyuki's throat vibrated slightly, emitting a low, rumbling growl. Its eyes were locked dead onto the Susanoo, as if taking careful aim.

The second Tailed Beast Bomb was fired.

Facing the second attack, Uchiha Taiga showed no panic. Instead, the corners of his mouth curled up into a smile.

The next moment, a pair of wings abruptly burst from the Susanoo's back.

Formed from golden chakra, the wings were broad and expansive. Every single feather was clearly visible, gleaming with a metallic luster under the sunlight.

Immediately, the wings flapped with tremendous force. The Susanoo kicked off the ground, causing the earth to erupt as if struck by a bomb. Dirt rolled like waves, splashing in all directions.

The Susanoo's massive body took to the sky with astonishing speed.

It performed a half-roll in the air, spreading its wings to hover steadily high above. The sunlight shone from behind it, casting a colossal shadow over the ground.

Following that, the Susanoo spread its arms, right hand forward, left hand drawn back.

In its right palm, golden chakra condensed into a longbow. The bow was sleek and elegant, its string pulled taut.

In its left palm, a golden chakra arrow slowly took shape, complete with a razor-sharp tip and fletching at the tail.

The longbow was drawn into a full moon. The arrow rested on the string, pulled back to its absolute limit.

The Eight-Tails Gyuki's second Tailed Beast Bomb had already been launched, rocketing toward the airborne Susanoo. The sphere moved at a terrifying speed, leaving a dark red trail in its wake as if tearing a rift in the sky.

At that exact moment, the Susanoo released its grip.

The chakra arrow shot forward, tracing a golden arc through the air as it flawlessly intercepted the purple-black sphere.

The arrowhead pierced the surface of the Tailed Beast Bomb.

There was no immediate explosion. Like piercing a thin sheet of paper, the arrow drove straight through the entire Tailed Beast Bomb. The two collided as if they were solid objects. Carrying the arrow, the Tailed Beast Bomb spun a few times in the air before detonating with a thunderous boom.

White light and fiery flames bloomed high in the sky, resembling a blossoming flower.

A shockwave expanded outward from the center of the blast, blowing away the surrounding clouds and forming a visible ring in the atmosphere.

The Susanoo flapped its wings, revealing its body from behind the residual flames of the explosion. Its golden armor remained completely unscathed by the blast's aftermath, and every feather on its wings was perfectly intact.

Then, it saw the third Tailed Beast Bomb.

The Eight-Tails Gyuki had already formed a third one in its mouth. Its throat trembled violently, and its entire body shook slightly. With a fierce whip of its head, the third Tailed Beast Bomb shot toward the Susanoo.

The next moment, the third Tailed Beast Bomb was once again pierced by a long arrow and detonated.

Flames and smoke filled the high altitude, obscuring half the sky.

Over twenty kilometers away.

The retreating Kumogakure group ground to a halt.

It wasn't that they wanted to stop, but the oppressive pressure radiating from the direction of the battlefield forced them to.

Someone instinctively looked back and saw the two colossal figures in the distance—the golden Susanoo giant and the dark Eight-Tails Gyuki.

They were facing off amidst the mountains and forests, every clash accompanied by deafening roars and towering flames.

A Tailed Beast Bomb exploded.

A blinding white light flared from afar.

Then came a visible shockwave, spreading in all directions.

By the time the shockwave reached their position, it had weakened considerably, but it still brought a fierce gale.

Trees swayed wildly, and loose rocks and dirt were swept up, hurtling toward them. Some raised their arms to shield their faces, some crouched down to dodge the flying debris, and others stumbled a few steps from the sheer force of the wind.

"Is... is this the power of a Tailed Beast? It's terrifying..."

A young Kumogakure ninja muttered to himself. His face was pale, his lips trembled, and he nearly dropped his ninja sword.

He had seen Tailed Beasts before. He had seen Jinchuriki in their partial transformations. But he had never witnessed the true destructive might of a Tailed Beast Bomb—the kind of power that could erase a mountain from the map.

The expressions of the others were much the same.

Some had their eyes wide open, some stood with their mouths agape, unable to speak, and others subconsciously took a step back.

They were not cowards. They had experienced countless battles and witnessed life and death time and time again. But the scene before them completely shattered their understanding. Because that was no longer a battle between ninjas; it was a clash of monsters.

Yugito Nii stood there, gazing at the golden giant and the dark Eight-Tails in the distance. Her heart sank, but she forced herself to remain calm.

As a Jinchuriki, she understood the danger of this situation better than anyone. The blast radius of a Tailed Beast Bomb was too large, and the shockwaves were too strong. If they continued to stay here, they could be caught in the crossfire at any moment.

"Move!"

She shouted, her voice filled with absolute resolve.

"Don't look back! Retreat at full speed!"

With that, she turned and sprinted forward without a single backward glance.

They had to get out of there quickly. The ensuing battle was only going to get more terrifying.

Just as Yugito Nii predicted, the battle had reached a stage of all-out firepower.

Uchiha Taiga stood within the chest of the Susanoo giant, his arms crossed, the smile on his face growing wider and wider.

His eyes shone like two stars, and his mouth split into an almost maniacal grin.

"Excellent! Again!"

His voice echoed from within the Susanoo, laced with irrepressible excitement.

"You're amazing, baby!"

The longbow and arrow in the Susanoo's hands dissipated. Golden chakra condensed once more, forming a massive chakra blade.

The blade was long and razor-sharp, with a golden pattern running along its spine that gleamed dazzlingly in the sunlight.

Blade in hand, the Susanoo flapped its wings forcefully, its colossal body charging toward the Eight-Tails Gyuki like a bolt of lightning.

Its speed was astonishing. The hundred-meter-tall figure carved a golden streak through the air, the resulting slipstream violently thrashing the trees below.

The Eight-Tails Gyuki was already forming a fourth Tailed Beast Bomb in its mouth. The sphere was mostly complete, its purple-black surface pulsing slightly like a beating heart.

The Susanoo arrived right in front of the Eight-Tails Gyuki.

The fourth Tailed Beast Bomb was fired.

The Susanoo didn't dodge. It raised its chakra blade high, the edge flaring with intense golden light, and brought it down in a vicious slash.

The blade collided with the Tailed Beast Bomb. There was no explosion. Instead, the blade cleaved the Tailed Beast Bomb cleanly in two.

The two halves of the sphere flew past the Susanoo's sides and detonated a short distance behind it, sending flames and smoke rocketing into the sky.

The Susanoo burst through the fiery aftermath. Its golden armor was stained with soot, but it remained completely undamaged. Without losing a shred of momentum, it closed the distance to the Eight-Tails Gyuki in the blink of an eye.

The Eight-Tails Gyuki lashed out with all eight of its tentacles simultaneously. The appendages, each over a hundred meters long and covered in suckers, whipped toward the Susanoo.

The Susanoo swung its long blade, severing the first tentacle, and then a second.

Golden flashes of the blade danced through the air as severed tentacles fell to the ground, writhing wildly.

One tentacle managed to avoid the blade and wrapped tightly around the Susanoo's right arm. The suckers latched onto the armor, locking the arm in place.

The Eight-Tails Gyuki raised its right fist. The fist was larger than the Susanoo's entire head, coated in dark red Tailed Beast chakra. Carrying apocalyptic power, it smashed toward the Susanoo's face.

The Susanoo raised its left fist in response. Golden chakra surged around it as it met the Eight-Tails Gyuki's fist head-on.

The two fists collided in mid-air.

BOOM!!!

A heaven-shaking roar erupted. A shockwave blasted outward from the point of impact, sending everything in the vicinity flying.

The ground caved in, forming a massive crater. Trees were uprooted and tossed into the air, while boulders were shattered into countless fragments.

Both colossal figures were forced back a few steps before simultaneously stabilizing their stances.

Further away.

On a thick, ancient tree, two figures stood quietly, watching the battle in the distance.

One was Zetsu, his half-black, half-white face encased in a flytrap-like appendage. His body clung to the trunk, looking as though he had grown straight out of the bark.

His eyes were fixed on the golden Susanoo giant, the golden light reflecting in his pupils.

"Such a battle... how terrifying," White Zetsu's hoarse voice rang out. It was hard to tell if he was excited or afraid—likely neither; he probably just found it amusing.

The other figure stood beside him, clad in a black cloak and wearing an orange, single-hole mask. Through the circular opening, a crimson Sharingan was visible.

It was Uchiha Obito, who had followed Uchiha Taiga all the way here.

He didn't speak, merely standing there in silence as he watched the distant clash.

If one looked closely, they would notice that his fists, hidden beneath his long sleeves, were tightly clenched.

Only he knew what was going through his mind at that moment.

*That guy... has gotten even stronger!*